In My Room | Ulrich Köhler | NYFF 2018
In My Room, the latest from German filmmaker Ulrich Köhler, our protagonist Armin (Hans Löw) is a man living a sad existence. He’s a lowly cameraman who can’t even remember to press the record button, as seen in the films rather amusing opening sequence.
Even though he’s approaching middle-aged he still lives in a shaggy and cramped apartment where he tries to bring back young girls that he meets while out clubbing. The emotional crux comes when he returns to his family home where his grandmother (Ruth Bickelhaupt) is slowly dying. He struggles to face this fact and things aren’t any easier with the fractured relationship shared with his father (Michael Wittenborn).
Just when you think it’s another indie drama, Köhler, who wrote the screenplay, pulls the rug from under you. When Armin wakes up the next day, everyone is gone. The only one still left is the corpse of his dead grandma. All of the living have disappeared, gone without sight and Armin is left to fend for himself all alone.
At least, that is for the first chunk of this unbalanced screenplay. Eventually, Armin takes it all in stride and comes to peace with these turn of events and lives a peaceful idealistic existence alone in the woods. Only one day he runs into another survivor, who lucky for him is the young and attractive Kirsi (Elena Rodonicich). They aren’t a perfect match but they’re the only two around and they have to tend to those pesky hormones.
While not a totally fresh concept Köhler tries to allow the humanity and existential crisis of such a lonely existence lead the way in In My Room, but sadly the film never finds its groove to pull it off. The fractured structure of it all prevents you from becoming immersed into the story on more than a surface level and with a runtime of two hours, you do feel every minute of it.
Löw and Rodonicich are actually a good pairing together, and there are some good moments here and there, but In My Room ultimately falls flat. Thankfully it’s not the only movie left at NYFF, or on earth.
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